Peer-counselling & coaching

Being on my healing journey for more than twenty years now and having moved through a rock bottom – deep healing transition since summer 2019, I realised that it indeed makes sense to open up about the path I walked so far, and to offer my accumulated knowledge and experiences as a resource and support for those who find it helpful for their own process.

As everyones her/his/theirstory is unique, also everyones healing journey is. We all move through the same human landscape though. Being equipped with ever changing resources and preferences, potentially every encounter, crossroad, tool or toy might offer you an opportunity to let go of what was imposed on you and/or recover a piece of yourself. I‘m happy to walk by your side for a time, listening, sharing, psychoeducating, peer-counseling, holding space for you while you figure it out – whatever we have agreed to.

In my experience the wounding of trauma / attachment injuries including on-going stress from oppressive systems bleeds into everything in life, into the relationship with yourself, the way how you perceive the world, connections to others in private and work life, unless you heal it layer by layer – like skin that has been cut and needs to be cleaned and taken care of until new skin has built on all layers. For me the multi-facet and multi-layered effects of trauma / attachment injuries require a wide range of work on mind, heart, soul and body. This is oftentimes uncomfortable, exhausting, painful, but also deeply rewarding.

There is so much information outside, that I needed ages to even get an overview and to find what I was looking for. So I’m now happy to support you in your orientation process. In addition I’m there to listen, to support you in getting ideas/finding out what might work for you, pointing you in the direction of resources, sharing knowledge (psychoeducation) about theories, strategies and tools, and answering questions about my experiences.

Be aware: I’m not a psychologist, so I would not work with you on your trauma material, I only offer to support you in your self-healing process.

So what are potential areas to speak about in peer counselling? To name a few: how to generate safety from the inside out, re-parenting, boundaries, the dimensions of self-care and how to make it a part of daily life, re-connecting with and rediscovering yourself, embodiment practices, de-armoring, identifying triggers, pattern and mechanism, behaving counter-intuitive (which is actually, IMHO, behaving counter-trauma-adaptive, as this intense impulse has usually nothing to do with intuition), becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable, breaking cycles, relational healing, how trauma might show up in your job life, working with your nervous system…

I was socialized as a white woman in Germany. I identify as womxn, fluid person, dyke, and I use all pronouns. Kink is part of my life for nearly 25 years. I’m a relationship anarchist, and I began to identify as poly after learning about trauma informed polyamory.
So I am approachable on these topics as well – always happy to talk connections and kink and its multifacet layers.

I’m coming from a peer and self-educator perspective, and I’m also an educated business coach. I’m really good at seeing the big picture, thinking outside the box, connecting dots and putting things into practice. My approach in bodywork as well as in peer-counselling and coaching is trauma aware/informed, holistic and understands wellbeing and pleasure as basic human rights.

I’m committed to my own healing journey – I grow and expand by moving deeper into myself, body, heart and soul, becoming myself more and more -, and I’m happy to support you in yours. Spirituality, the love of touch, nature and books, appreciating the beauty in all day life, feeling my feelings including safer release processes, softness and vulnerability as path, being afraid and doing it anyway, radical honesty, intersectional feminism, healing justice and transformativr justice are part of the base of my work and life.

Interested in working with me?

You choose if you wish to gather online, e.g. via Zoom, or in person – I’m happy to see you for a walk, or sit with you at the canal or in a quiet corner of a park.

Client voices

“I recently had the opportunity to have a 1:1 peer counselling with Steff on the topic of “safety in one’s own body”. Steff is a great, empathetic person and seems to easily create a calm and safe space in a very short time, where you feel noticed and heard. It was a very good and intensive session that offered many “aha” moments as well as food for thought and experimentation. Thank you very much for that, Jessica.”
February 2021, online via zoom

“The coaching was very in-depth and clarifying. It helped me a lot to move forward in my process and to find clarity.“
Birgit, summer 2020, in person outdoor in the woods

“Steff helped me work on topics in a highly professional way and let me find solutions for myself while providing a valuable toolkit. In a very short time, Steff taught me make long-lasting change and how to make better use of the tools I already had.”
Daniela, spring 2020, trauma informed coaching on online job interview situation, 3 sessions á 60 minutes within 1 week, online via zoom